WARREN ELLIS is a graphic novelist and author of the NYT best-selling novel GUN MACHINE. His graphic novel GLOBAL FREQUENCY is being developed for television by Jerry Bruckheimer and FOX. He is the writer of the graphic novel RED, adapted into the film starring Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren. His next book is NORMAL from FSG.

DISCORDIA

Published October 2, 2012 by Warren Ellis

DISCORDIA is an ebook about the state of Greece this past summer, written by Laurie Penny and illustrated by Molly Crabapple. They went to Greece together to get boots on the ground, Molly sketching and Laurie making notes right there. It’s published by Random House. It is really, really good.

Molly actually created most of the art first and Laurie wrote after it. I explained to Molly that the majority of readers would be using black and white e-ink devices, so she focused on black line-drawings with the only colour really being the red bloodstains of the violent anti-Golden Dawn protests.

She created a mix of predominantly finished pieces and sketches to communicate the in-the-moment nature of the reportage, sketching as Laurie did notes. We’ve ended up with 36 pieces in the finished ebook, which weighs in at 24,000 words – and if anyone complains about that being priced (under) £2 ($3), they don’t deserve it.

Obviously, I’m biased, as I adore both the little monsters. But I think it’s turned out to be one of Laurie’s very best pieces, and Molly, who’s been levelling up all year, hit a new high mark in the illustration herein.

And, right now, it is literally $3.10 in the US and under £2 in the UK.